“Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.” —Art Buchwald, humourist.

13 August 2019. I am almost to the end of the 90-day challenge.  

Most people, including me, want to work hard and do any job they do to the best of their abilities. However, having an occupation is not all about making a living through earning money, it is about job satisfaction and providing a great service or superior product. But, if you do not have that drive for excellence, the job may suffer, the company you work for or that you own may suffer, customers can become unhappy and reputations will go south.

So how do you weigh the demands of learning a new job, or having a gruelling work schedule, a lot of travel to work, or any other instance which creates conflicts with personal and family time? How do you make a sane balance between work, hobbies, family, friends, daily living like gardening, washing, shopping, cooking, cleaning, eating, paying the bills, resting, exercise and fun?

You don’t find the time; you must make the time by prioritising elements of life so that recreation is as important as daily living tasks and working. Not an easy task but it is doable with a positive and driven mind-set. This is maybe a new challenge for me, something I am currently struggling with in tying up loose ends from my old job, starting a new job and learning many new processes and procedures and trying to do a great job in as little time as possible. (I am my own worst critic and expect a lot from myself… I get upset if I make mistakes as I really do try hard to be excellent).

In attempting to find a balance, we are truly the lucky generations in that we can find lots of answers easily on the internet with good keyword searches. There are several good sources for mapping your life, learning to juggle priorities, becoming efficient at time management, being an effective leader or team member at work, shortcuts for living such as online shopping, banking, recipes and even inexpensive services to assist with tasks which take up our time outside of work.

There are laundry services, lawn care and gardeners, cleaners, window washers, gutter cleaners, car-detailers, food deliveries, all sorts of help available out there to take away some of the daily grind around the home, if one earns enough to afford it or prioritises their income. Even if you use any of these services just once a month, it will take a little pressure off.  These could be regular “date” times for a family picnic or time with friends or just go have a relaxing beach walk instead of cleaning the car, the windows or the oven.

“Life is too long to be out of balance, and too short to live in mediocrity”. Gabe Peterson Condon